All MLB 2011 Thread

I promise not to talk all Jays in this thread but I'll start with one of the wildest baseball games I have ever seen last night. Angels beat the Jays 6-5 in the 14th with Haren getting the win after the Angels use everyone up in the bullpen. The game didn't go without controversy when Bob Davidson made one of the worst calls I have ever seen in baseball history taking away the potential winning run for the Jays in the 13th on runner interference.

My Braves have been up and down all freaking season. They blew out Philly two nights ago, then got blown out by them yesterday, for example. Hopefully they can get themselves some sort of consistency soon

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Proud winner of the 2009-10 NJDevs Conn Smythe Trophy for best poster during the playoffs

The Red Sox are too good to be awful. I agree the Rays' start is more concerning, though they'll surely turn it around too. Losing Manny hurts though, and they were already a couple wins behind the Yankees, on paper (if not more depending on your view/projection). This 1-8 start doesn't help.

Since this thread is kinda like the unofficial Jays thread (at times) I figured I'd throw in a Jays nugget - they won't be that good this year, but Alex A. is doing a really nice job with that organization. I think Drabek is going to be really good, too. I saw parts of his outing last weekend against the Twins; he looked phenomenal.

Edited by nmigliore, 10 April 2011 - 05:14 PM.

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LETS GO METSLETS GO DEVILS

"Take all that clubhouse [expletive] and all that, throw it out the window. Every writer in the country has been writing about that [expletive] for years. Chemistry don't mean [expletive]."

I don't know if anyone of ya are watching the ESPN Sunday Night game with the Yankees and Red Sox but they are experimenting with a live K-Zone graphic that is just horrible. It's reminded me of how much I hated the glow puck thing when the NHL was on Fox. I hope the experiment ends tonight.

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RIP Pat Burns -- RIP Alexander Vasyunov and Lokomotiv Yaroslavl
Winner of the 2008 Sergei Brylin Award for Most Underrated Poster
Co-Winner of the 2011 Scott Bertoli Award for Best Minor League Poster, Winner of the 2012 Scott Bertoli Award

I don't know if anyone of ya are watching the ESPN Sunday Night game with the Yankees and Red Sox but they are experimenting with a live K-Zone graphic that is just horrible. It's reminded me of how much I hated the glow puck thing when the NHL was on Fox. I hope the experiment ends tonight.

I only saw a few seconds of it, but it looks like you are playing a baseball video game. They aren't using it constantly though. Only saw it one inning.

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"The Stanley Cup has fallen from the Stars. The new millennium has its first Stanley Cup Champion, and it's the New Jersey Devils." Mike Miller calling the Devils winning the Stanley Cup.

"It goes to the captain and then there are handoffs during a skate around the ice" Mike Emrick as Scott Stevens is being presented the Stanley Cup.

I like Braun, but that's just silly. Hes a poor defensive player and, uh, he was already locked up through 2015 anyway. What's the rush to lock him up, at a premium price no less, for his age 33 to 37 seasons? I wonder if the Brewers make this move if Fielder wasn't about to become a free agent.....

Edited by nmigliore, 22 April 2011 - 11:24 AM.

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LETS GO METSLETS GO DEVILS

"Take all that clubhouse [expletive] and all that, throw it out the window. Every writer in the country has been writing about that [expletive] for years. Chemistry don't mean [expletive]."

I personally like it, as long as it stops there. One of the things I love about how much of an accomplishment it is just to make the playoffs. But, at the same time I recognize how this gives more teams something to play for in September.

Can't say I'm a fan. I like the system the way it is, personally. I would imagine this could definitely help teams that are stuck with dealing with multiple big market teams in their division though, like the AL East.

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LETS GO METSLETS GO DEVILS

"Take all that clubhouse [expletive] and all that, throw it out the window. Every writer in the country has been writing about that [expletive] for years. Chemistry don't mean [expletive]."

If it was a one-game playoff between the two wild cards I could definitely see the merit, you want to put the wild card team on an uneven footing with the division winners and giving them a play-in game can do that.

If it was any more than one game though, then you might be giving the division winners too much of a bye and the wild-card teams would be more in game mode, plus it would extend the season too much.

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"The Devils have high standards, that's the difference. We have a standard to live up to every year, and a couple of teams in our area don't have the standards we do." - Pat Burns

The New Jersey Devils win Stanley Cups everywhere:-NHL record for most road wins in the playoffs - 10-1 in '95 and 10-2 in '00-NHL record for most home wins in the playoffs - 12-1 in '03

I like Braun, but that's just silly. Hes a poor defensive player and, uh, he was already locked up through 2015 anyway. What's the rush to lock him up, at a premium price no less, for his age 33 to 37 seasons? I wonder if the Brewers make this move if Fielder wasn't about to become a free agent.....

I really don't pay attention to the NL much so when I saw your comment on defense, I went over to Fangraphs to check out his UZR and noticed they added a new defensive section called Aggregate Defensive Ratings which takes a weighted average of FSR, UZR, TZL, DRS. Pretty interesting since each system has its shortcomings. I still can't wait for Field f/x to come out...anyone here anything about that recently? That can totally revolutionize defensive metrics.

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RIP Pat Burns -- RIP Alexander Vasyunov and Lokomotiv Yaroslavl
Winner of the 2008 Sergei Brylin Award for Most Underrated Poster
Co-Winner of the 2011 Scott Bertoli Award for Best Minor League Poster, Winner of the 2012 Scott Bertoli Award

I still use UZR as my main defensive metric, but I try to use a mixture of that, DRS, TZL, and even the Fangraph Fans; which is pretty much the Aggregate Defensive Rating they have now, which is great.

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LETS GO METSLETS GO DEVILS

"Take all that clubhouse [expletive] and all that, throw it out the window. Every writer in the country has been writing about that [expletive] for years. Chemistry don't mean [expletive]."

What do you guys think of the talk of adding another playoff team in each league?

I'd be in favor of it if they condensed the rest of the playoff schedule. The playoffs end too late as it is, and more importantly it completely changes the sport when you go from needing 5, in a pinch 4, starting pitchers to be good, to only needing 3. The additional team would mean two more teams (and their fans' money) stay in it, but it's really crapshoot as to what it means for playoff races. The spot in the standings where it's down to the wire changes year-to-year.

Congrats to Liriano, but its hard to say this will turn around his dreadful season; he may have allowed no hits, but he walked 6 and struck out only 2. Eesh. Somewhat reminiscent of Edwin Jackson's 8 BB/6 K no-no last season.

Edited by nmigliore, 03 May 2011 - 09:41 PM.

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LETS GO METSLETS GO DEVILS

"Take all that clubhouse [expletive] and all that, throw it out the window. Every writer in the country has been writing about that [expletive] for years. Chemistry don't mean [expletive]."